Which NHL player do you think will be a bust for the 2009-2010 season? Just like players that have a breakout year, every year there are certain players that are unable to live up to what they did the previous season. Guys like Maxim Afinogenov of the Sabres come to mind.

Picking a player that is going to be a bust is pretty much impossible, a lot harder than picking a breakout player. My best guess for a bust for next season is Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild. Last season, he was top 5 in the league in wins, save%, and shutouts but I do not see him continuing onto next season. As many of you already know, Minnesota is going through a lot of personal changes right now. New head coach Todd Richards seems to have a different style he wants his team to play than Jacques Lemaire. Lemaire's system was basically New Jersey Devils hockey, all defense all the time. I think Backstrom highly benefitted from this defensive system, and once Richards opens up the offense I think Backstrom is going to suffer.

Now I am not saying he is gonna turn into a goalie like Vesa Toskala or Keri Lehtonen, but I do not see him contending for the Vezina next season. I see him being in more of a range of a 2.6-2.8GAA and around .905 save%. But I guess you never know, he could post better numbers next year than the one that just passed.

What about you, who do you think is gonna be a big bust next season?

*Note: I am willing to take suggestions for future QOTD topics on the Question Of The Day thread on the NHL message board which can be found HERE .